Since 30-39 is not the typical school demographic, I asked readers 30 years
or older who are sitting on a pile of student debt to share their stories
and reasons.

A summary of reasons and email snips from readers follows.

Reasons for Skyrocketing Student Debt in Age Group 30-39

Interest rates are so low they encourage not paying off loans

Interest rates are so high and job salary so low that debts cannot be
paid back

Economic incentives for special ed teachers and others

Divorce sends middle-aged mothers back to school to get a job

Divorce and child payments sends middle-aged men back to school seeking
better opportunities

Pressure to get into management, and management requires additional school

Exploitative ads

Deferred payments

Employers unnecessarily require college degrees

Those who get married after high school decide to go back to school later
in life

Parents co-sign loans shifting debt responsibility to higher age group

Job loss sends middle-aged persons back to school hoping for better opportunities

Email Anecdotes

Reader Steve, went back to school to become a special education teacher.
He purposely loaded up on debt because "both our state and the federal government
offered economic incentives in the form of student loan forgiveness to people
entering that career path. Loading up on student loan debt was the only rational
fiscal decision available to us."

Reader Tom went into debt thinking it was a great deal because his
loans were at a low rate for 30 years. He now has the cash to pay off his
student loans but does not because he "bets that boring index/asset-allocation
investing will average better than 3.6% nominal over the next 15-20 years."

Reader Dave and his wife have a combined $90K in debt at a not so attractive
rate of 6.8%. Right after he got his MBA Dave reports the "economy collapsed".
Dave spent 2 years unemployed, accruing interest. "We'd like to buy a house,
but instead we are paying the government back at excessive interest rates."

Reader Colleen mentioned the divorce factor. Women with kids and who
did not work previously may need to go back to school as a result of divorce.

Reader Jeremy suggests "some of the initial student loans are in the
parents' names, adding to the 'over 30' demographic". He also suggests that
right before the housing bust, "tens of thousands of people were getting $16,000
student loans to fund a 2 year real estate college." After the bust there
was no way to pay the debt back.

Reader Terry complains of automatic deferrals. Terry writes "My wife
had initially asked for a deferment during one semester but after that, and
even after repeated calls asking them to stop, they continued to defer payments
and capitalize interest. You had better watch what is going on closely or
you will suffer because the incompetence is incredible. Keep a sharp eye out
or better yet do not go into student loan slavery, as I preach constantly
to my children!"

Reader Trish also notes loan deferments writing "I already owe more
in compounded interest from having my loans on unemployment deferment than
I will ever be able to repay in my lifetime. I am a responsible person who
understands I owe someone this money for the education I received. But as
things stand now,I will literally go to my grave owing on the loans. I know
this is a horrible financial mess, but it may help to explain some of the
odd stats."

Reader Lucy writes "many employers are now requiring college degrees
for jobs that shouldn't require one if you have commensurate experience. For
example, one company I am very familiar with decided that all new hires who
are not hourly factory workers must have a degree. They overlooked a very
talented and experienced person who had 25 plus years of experience and more
training and related skills than anyone with a master's degree. Business is
definitely contributing to the college insanity."

Reader Matthew delayed going to school, and instead got married and
got a job after high school. His boss pushed him into management and "company
policy was that management had to have a bachelor's degree." Matthew succumbed
to the pressure and ended up getting divorced in the process. He now has his
B.A. but also a mountain of debt, child support, and a job that pays $8/hour.
Matthew writes "For twenty years I've been making $8 an hour. Of course, that
figure is a lot less now than it was twenty years ago when I was just starting
out. Would I do it again? No. Hell no. I wasted years of my life pursuing
this thing, and got nothing more than debt for the effort. My entire situation
sometimes makes me laugh when I think about it. Sometimes it makes me cry.
Mostly it just makes me bitter. And I try not to think about it."

Reader Drew writes "Throughout the 90s and 2000s, we obtained degrees
which are not supported by income. As a result, we deferred monthly payment
and/or missed payments over the last decade. It's easy to see how student
loans fall to the back of the bus. I'm 39 and am slowly chipping away at my
wife's master's degree."

Reader Lynn writes "In Austin, television is filled with badly-acted
ads from purported chef school students exhorting the opportunity to go to
culinary school and become a professional in the food and hospitality industry.
We're also bombarded with ads for car title loans, quick short term loans,
etc.

For people who are stuck, desperate, and not adept at critical thinking, such
ads offer a glimmer of hope that will flicker out once they graduate. The
offers to help are purely exploitative and I would guess if you scratched
the surface of some of these entities, you would find the same players that
are tied to Wall Street.

Thanks for all the work you do trying to figure this stuff out, and then putting
it out there for people to read. You are a rare soul."

Reader George says "I had many classmates that were borrowing the maximum
allowed (even if it wasn't necessary) simply because they could lock in fixed
payments at 2.5%."

George gets the quote of the day for his amusing comment "It's only a trillion
dollars of totally unsecured, non-asset backed debt. What could possibly go
wrong?"

Reader Winston wrote a lengthy email asking "Where's the control group?" Winston
is tired of studies that hype up salaries of graduates while ignoring those
who drop out, and also wondering how much exceptionally bright kids would
make if they simply did not go to college. Winston suggests salary comparisons
ought to be based on equivalent SAT scores (those who graduated from college
and those who didn't).

Think!

If you are a brick-layer or painter, don't think schooling will turn you into
a Java programmer. And if you are an out-of-work Java programmer, don't think
a culinary school will turn you into a chef.

Regardless of who you are or what you want to become, please think twice if
you are considering going back to school to get a degree, especially a degree
from a for-profit school churning out useless degrees for which there will
be no job when you graduate.

Student debt may become a trap from which there is no escape (and I have a
lot of emails from readers that I did not quote) to prove it.

Thanks to all who emailed their thoughts and stories whether I referenced
them or not.